2-982-334 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lumbering in New Brunswick - Driving Logs down the Falls of the St. John, [Canada], 1858. 'The lumbering business is the leading element of wealth in the province; and the sawmills, which are found collected at the mouths of all its rivers, as well as the building of ships, and the business of transportation to the mother country, give employment to a very large proportion of the population...the forests...supply timber of large size, in any quantity, for building ships of the largest class...On the arrival of spring, when the heavy rains and the melting of the ice and snow have caused the streams to rise, the lumbermen enter upon the arduous and dangerous task of "driving" their timber down the streams to the saw mills. The timber on the rivulets is floated piece by piece to the larger streams; and, when all the falls and rapids have been passed, the logs are formed into extensive rafts, and thus, to the tune of many a wild song, are safely navigated until the end of the journey. At certain times the logs come together in such great numbers at the waterfalls as to produce what are called "jams." The dangers sometimes incurred in breaking up these jams are very great, and hardly a season ever passes without witnessing the loss of human life'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.